Story:Kings of Strife/Part 15
Part Fifteen The Crimson Death. A man perfectly befitting his infamous title, blood covering his once-pristine Zeta uniform and hair. Pure bloodthirsty savagery took hold of his face; a bloody broadword was held lazily in his grip. Another equally massive sword lay sheathed behind the beast’s waist. He stood, illuminated by moonlight and glistening with gore, at a full height most men could not reach. That was the sort of man who could kill a university’s executive in cold blood out of sheer boredom. That was the man who stood in front of Vainia, looking down at her with hungry ice-cold blue eyes. The princess of Mortis could do nothing more than push herself backwards, her rapier dragging on the hardwood floor of her dorm as she moved. She struggled to speak, but only fearful stammering escaped her lips. She found herself almost frozen by the intense gaze of the murderer in front of her. “I knew it,” rattled the man covered in blood. He toyed with the weighty sword in his hand. “You must have been there that night, too. I was so sure that no one else saw me… How careless.” Vainia could only gulp. She was still speechless. Noticing her paralyzing fear, the bloody man smiled, but his grin could only be perceived as sadistically malicious. “What, don’t you recognize me… Miss Sestrum?” ‘No. It can’t be. Impossible…’ Vainia mentally berated herself as she let her neck go slack and her head lean backwards. Her eyes threatened to tear up as they idly looked at the golden chandelier handing from her ceiling. “Mr. Siraot…” The armed man laughed bodaciously as he closed the door behind him with an armored boot. “So you do remember me! All I did was wear a wig and change my outfit… Don’t feel bad, though. You weren’t the only one fooled by my disguise.” Vainia looked back at the false substitute as he tilted his head and smiled devilishly. “Shall I tell you my true name?” “What’s the point?” she spat in response. “You’re just going to kill me anyway, aren’t you? Why risk the chance of having more witnesses?” Unlike when she was being herded around by Cidolas, now Vainia wasn’t asking questions out of a desperate attempt to brainstorm an escape plan or stall for time. This was the man who had committed at least three brutal murders and an act of arson, without an ounce of repercussions. Just from his aura and strength, it was clear that he was not someone Vainia could hope to defeat in a swordfight – and here in her room in the middle of the night, there was nowhere for her to run. In other words – there was no escape in sight. Now, Vainia asked questions out of anger, frustration, and hatred. ‘I can’t believe I’m about to die here…!’ More than anything else, she was angry at herself for being so weak – so foolish – and for failing. The false substitute laughed heartily, his mood improving as Vainia’s plummeted. “I can already tell that you’re a very serious person. It hasn’t even crossed your mind even once that perhaps, I’m doing all of this for fun?” Vainia’s glare melted into pure horror and confusion. “Fun…? You call this fun? The murder and torturing? The arson? Human suffering is fun to you?” The man’s eyes narrowed and his smile widened to his temples. “Yes,” he said, without a hint of doubt or remorse. ‘He’s a madman. I’m about to be killed by an unreasonable psychopath.’ Hot tears of frustration silently fell down Vainia’s cheeks, and she wished for nothing more than her invisible rune chains to manifest and choke her to death. ‘At least then, he won’t have the satisfaction of taking my life!’ The killer took a step toward the princess and let out an orotund chuckle. “You’re surprising me, Miss Sestrum. It’s been years since I’ve seen that level of intensity and pure hatred in someone’s eyes. I can tell… you truly despise me, don’t you?” As he moved forward, Vainia pushed herself backwards with a visage of revulsion. The tall man nodded sagely and stopped his sauntering. “Let me give you a name to the figure you hate the most. I am Gin Kama Taoris, known the world over as the Crimson Death. Take solace in the fact that you will be killed by a legend, at least.” “How?!” Vainia yelled. “How did you find me? How did you get here?!” She had led Cidolas in circles amongst the campus for half an hour – it had taken her a year to fully memorize the layout of the campus, and that was with intense study. If she hadn’t felt the Crimson Death’s presence following her, how could he have known where she was? How did he know that she had seen him? Although she had been extremely paranoid, Vainia was almost sure that she had covered her tracks and evaded isolation superbly. “Truth be told, I almost didn’t find you. I would never have guessed that two people witnessed me that night… It was only due to luck and a whim that I stuck around and managed to identify you today. It was only because I saw that same look in your eyes earlier… that look of pure black hatred. It’s been so long since I’ve seen anything like it!” Vainia’s brow furrowed as she pushed herself backwards a bit more and lightly raised her rapier, as if to keep the murderer away from her as she collected her thoughts. ‘Two people? But I was the only one there that night…’ She pushed herself to remember what the man said earlier, as well as any relevant facts that she might have overlooked. ‘A whim that he stuck around? He thought that he took care of any witnesses… Who else could have been there that evaded my notice?’ The princess felt her heart suddenly drop to her stomach as she realized exactly what he was talking about. Turo Bainas had made a habit of following her around, and he had done it well. The same day he first confronted Vainia was the same night she had gone to observe Vaelus… and the same night she had seen the Crimson Death commit his crimes. She hadn’t seen the boy since. “No… No! You… you killed him! You killed Turo!” “Hm?” Gin Taoris’ smile faded into a frown and he tilted his head. “Of course I did. Are you just now realizing that?” She started to shake. “Not just Cidolas and the Councilor… You killed a student! An innocent student…!” Vainia looked down at her hands with widening eyes. ‘Turo was just an obnoxious Inusian… I hate Inusians! So why am I so upset over his death? Why am I so enraged?’ She bit her lip and felt, as heavy as ever, the invisible rune chains wrapped around every limb of her body. As she looked up to Gin Taoris once again from beneath her brows, she felt her heart almost palpitate. She knew the answer, and no amount of self-delusion could hide it. Turo Bainas had died in place of Vainia – his death had served to placate Taoris and save Vainia’s own life. ‘He died for me.’ “I’ve changed my mind,” the princess said. “I’m not going to die here.” Taoris laughed out loud. “What? Do you think you have a choice here?” He smiled. “You’re spirited, but don’t forget your place. I’ve only entertained you so far for my own amusement – nothing more. Your life will end here, whether you like it or not.” “No. I think you’re the one forgetting your place.” Vainia scowled deeply as she slowly stood up to her full height. At only five feet tall, she only came up to the middle of the Crimson Death’s chest, but this didn’t stop her from glaring in his face with unrestrained malice. She took a step backwards again and pointed her bejeweled rapier to the murderer in front of her, its tip ending mere inches away from him. “You don’t know who I am, do you?” She was pointing her sword at Taoris, but Vainia knew she had zero chance of threatening him at all when it came to skill with a blade. He didn’t know that, though, and at least his first instinct would be to disarm her if he started to move suddenly. ‘That will be my chance, then. Even if I have to sacrifice a hand, I will restrain him – and choke the life out of him. I will not die here.’ The Crimson Death’s jovial and sadistic mood suddenly dropped. "I thought I said you’re going to die here tonight.” He lowered his face just enough for his eyes to be engulfed in shadow now that Vainia stood in the way of the moonlight, and he even let out a throaty growl. “Those who must be repeated to are either ignoring me or inferior… and I absolutely cannot allow either to live.” He looked up, his ice blue eyes blazing with unheard of fury, and he frowned with his teeth. “And here I thought you had such potential in your hatred.” Next, he moved faster than Vainia could comprehend. She saw him move, for the most part; just barely enough to visualize his speed, but not enough to consciously realize how fast he was moving. In less than an instant the Crimson Death had unsheathed his second sword and used it to slash right into Vainia’s sword. She jumped and stepped backwards as a reflexive reaction to his motion, but was not fast enough to avoid his attack. His newly freed blade collided with the steel of her rapier with such force that it shattered the blade immediately. The speed at which Vainia’s sword was crushed was almost unreal, as if she had been threatening him with a blade of glass. Taoris still had one blade left. Somehow, as Vainia stepped back and felt her sword be destroyed, time seemed to slow down, and though she could not cognizantly understand what was going on around her, she could see everything the Crimson Death was doing, and she unconsciously reacted in turn as best she could. The Crimson Death moved to leap forward, his bloody sword raised in the air with the obvious intent of cutting her into pieces. Before he could move – in fact, before her sword was even destroyed – Vainia raised her left hand into the air and focused all of her free mental energy to the silver rune chains wrapped all around her hands. She sent the runes wrapped around her arm flying forward from her hand, willing them to grab onto the golden chandelier hanging from the ceiling. Taoris paused, momentarily taken aback by the sudden appearance of her weapons, and stood right in place – directly beneath her chandelier. As soon as her chains were coiled around the chandelier, Vainia ripped her hand downward, pulling down the chains and the chandelier with them. All of this occurred in less than two seconds. A massive piece of glass and metal crashed down on Taoris’ back, and an equally massive eruption of cacophonous sound accompanied the attack. The man stood in place, his swords pointing downward to the ground and his head low as the rain of glass and sparks slowed down and eventually stopped. Without the chandelier, the dorm was engulfed in darkness, the only light source coming from Vainia’s left hand and the moon shining bright through the tall closed window. Both combatants stood in the darkness for a moment, unmoving, waiting. Taoris made the first move, and it was a slow and calculated one. He lifted his head just enough to be able to glare down at Vainia beneath his long, taut brow. Despite the dark and serious look on his face, he wore an ominous smile as he spoke. “Was that supposed to hurt?” Only one more possible gambit existed in the princess’ mind. This time, Vainia couldn’t see Taoris’ movements at all. She focused her runes around her right hand and pointed it forward, the shattered remains of a rapier blade still jutting from the jeweled hilt grasped tightly in her sweating grip, purely out of instinct. She felt it sink satisfyingly into flesh at the same time she felt a heavy armored boot crash right into her abdomen, instantly robbing her of breath. Next she felt like she was flying. It took Vainia a fraction of a second to realize that she was suddenly outside. ‘The window,’ she realized as her body struggled to find air. ‘He kicked me out the window…’ Her dorm was on the thirty-eighth floor. At a fall from this height, she would die instantly. The princess’ mind raced to find a solution, even if she did feel slow from the lack of air in her lungs. Her weapon had been ripped from her hand, and she had nothing left to use – nothing left but her magic. There were no other incantations she had memorized, and there was no time to guess at a spell. All she had left were the chains, and the only strings she had left were the ones still curled around her thick legs and her torso. Even then, from the pain and shock her body was going through, they were noticeably fading and only barely managed to stay in existence. Wasting no further time, Vainia meekly raised both hands to the moon above, channeling every chain around her to manifest and fly forward from her fingers. They rushed forward like airborne snakes, following her mental bidding and latching onto the nearest possible surface. A windowsill, a balcony, a fire escape, anything – the chains sought whatever would save Vainia’s life. They found their target. A massive jolt ripped through all of Vainia’s body and caused her to audibly cry out, further removing the little bit amount of breath she had regained in the past second. This was the final straw, and after bouncing a bit from the impact of the chains grabbing onto a passing surface, Vainia lost all her magical concentration and her chains disappeared – but they had done their job. Her falling velocity slowed immensely, so much so that when Vainia landed on her back on the lawn outside of her dorm, she felt a huge blunt pain and cried out once again… but she survived. The princess sat there, her arms and legs spread out on the grass beneath her, and finally received a chance to catch her breath. All around her were shards of glass large and small from the destruction of her window. Aching pain resounded through every part of her body. ‘If I didn’t have the chains wrapped around my torso… That kick would have sent my internal organs flying out of my body, I suspect.’ Meekly, she raised one hand and held it up to the moon again. It shook beneath the cream light reflected from the large moon in the dark sky. Something started to blot out the moon, Vainia realized. She lowered her hand, still heavily panting, and squinted. Whatever it was grew exponentially larger and larger… almost as if it were coming right at her. The princess’ eyes widened and her jaw slackened. The object blocking the moon was a man, falling the same height as she was. Not even two seconds later, the Crimson Death slammed to the ground in front of her, his legs slightly bent and his swords still held strongly in his hands. From a lethal height of thirty-eight stories, Gin Taoris had jumped – and landed, alive, on his feet. He stood in place for a moment before walking forward with a loud growl. Vainia’s broken sword was still embedded in his body, right where his heart must have been. “You!!” Taoris screamed. “What did you do to me?!” Despite her agonizing pain, Vainia laughed into the night. “So it worked, after all… I’m amazed. This magic truly is incredible.” Taoris let out another volcanic yell and impaled both of his swords to the ground on either side of Vainia’s outstretched arms. He stood directly over her and bent so that he was looking right into her eyes. “Magic? What worked? What did you do to me?! Why does my heart hurt?!” “You think I threw that sword into your heart for nothing?” The princess laughed again and closed her heavy eyelids. Opening them again was difficult; Vainia was beginning to feel her consciousness fading. “It was covered in my magical rune chains, and now those very chains are wrapped all around your heart. You can rip that sword out and survive, perhaps, but the runes are disconnected by now – they’ll only leave your heart if I will them to.” She had theorized that the chains could persist if they were willingly seceded from her body, and she was right. Of course, the ability had only worked because she specifically imbued the will for such an action into the chains. “If my heart stops beating, or if I will it, those chains will contract for five minutes before disappearing. Your heart may be burdened by them now, but it won’t be able to beat with the chains choking it… especially not after five minutes.” Taoris’ face fell and his widened eyes stared right into Vainia’s nonchalant ones. The princess continued with another husky, victorious laugh. “I have your heart quite literally in my hands. In other words, if you kill me or I desire, you will drop dead.” “Take it off! I’ll… I’ll torture you…!” He paused, and Vainia chuckled again as they both came to the same realization. If she were to feel any sort of pain, it would take but a thought to kill Taoris. “I’ll… I’ll kill anyone you want! I’ll do anything! Just get these off me!” Taoris looked down at his own hands and the sword sticking out of his chest with surprised eyes that threatened to tear up – almost as if he were surprised at his own words. As for Vainia, she paused for a moment and remembered the corpse lying in two pieces in her ruined dorm room. “We are here as your guardian,” Cidolas had said before being torn apart by Taoris. “Your life is in danger here.” The mysterious hooded figure had known about Vainia’s true identity and her magical abilities… Who knew what else they knew? Perhaps this was working in her favor after all. “You will be my guardian,” Vainia said with a smile. The princess of Mortis closed her eyes and felt numbness overtake her body. “You will follow my every order, and you will make sure I never die. From now on, you are my personal Knight, sworn to serve as my personal blade. Your first order is to take me and flee – anywhere but here, anywhere safe and undetectable. It does not matter where… I will trust your judgment. Just know that any betrayal on your part will result in a swift yet excrutiating death.” Taoris dropped to his knees and held his head in his large hands. “What goals could you possibly have? Where did this power come from, and all of this hatred? What is it that you want to do?” Vainia gave one last dark chuckle before she lost her consciousness to her injuries. “I have hatred for this entire country… and my goal is to rule this entire world.” ...End of Part Fifteen. <- Previous Page | Main Page | Next Page ->